The GoodheART Report – Waitress Rehearsal Diary: First Preview

Nina Goodheart, gap year intern, returns with a Waitress update just before our 2015-16 season kicks off.

Six weeks after our first day of rehearsal in Cambridge, Waitress is about to get its very first audience. That’s right – tonight is our first preview! In just a few hours, the Loeb Drama Center will be packed with people who have yet to feel the force of Sara Bareilles’s incredible score, lay eyes on Suttirat Larlarb’s gorgeous costumes, or crack up at the cast’s hilarious antics. It has been a whirlwind few weeks, especially during tech rehearsals, as we watched the entire world of Waitress spring to life. At times, it feels magical – the way that lights, sound, sets, and all the other technical components of the show come together and elevate this quirky, intimate, moving story to a whole new level.

I have always felt that preview audiences are extra special, because they are such an integral part of a show’s development. Every laugh, every gasp, every silence that fills the theater tells us something about about our show. Tonight’s audience will get a taste of Waitress even as we’re still working to perfect the recipe – and what could be more exciting than that?

Nina Goodheart is a full-time A.R.T. artistic intern, blogger, and stage management intern for Waitress. She has eaten a serious amount of pie over the last few weeks.